Erkki Siira

Location-Based Mobile Wiki Using NFC Tag Infrastructure

Wikipedia is widely known encyclopedia in the web updated by volunteers around the world. Mobile and location based wiki with NFC, however, brings forward the idea of using Near Field Communication tags as an enabler for seeking information content from wiki. In this paper we shortly address how NFC infrastructure can be created in a city for the use of location-based wiki. The users of the system can lead local information from the Wikipedia system and also update the location-based content. We present an implementation of such a system. Finally, we evaluate the restrictions of the technological system, and delineate further work.

The Impact of NFC on Multimodal Social Media Application

In this paper we describe the NFC-based multimodal social media application Hot in the City. This application allows users to make friends by touching other users’ NFC devices through the peer-to-peer mode. Users can also inform friends of their current location by touching hotspot tags. This study describes the three NFC modes in detail and delineates what kind of impact NFC has had in the creation of the Hot in the City social media application. In addition, we analyse how the use of different NFC modes – reader/writer and peer-to-peer – has unique consequences on user interface and system design. Even though NFC offers intuitive, natural interactions, the changing between modes seemed to confuse less experienced users.

Experiences from Near-Field Communication (NFC) in a Meal Service System

In this paper we report the experiences from a pilot test in which users used an NFC-based catering service system. Primarily, the aim of this paper is to present the requirements for improving the functionality of the NFC-based systems. These requirements are based on the experiences from the catering service pilot described in this paper. The NFC-based catering service system was used by logistics service, meal producer, elderly care and elderly clients of the catering service. Meal service clients and drivers of the logistics service used NFC-enabled devices and other parties monitored the service process. The duration of the pilot test was approximately eight weeks. The NFC-based system is investigated from technical, organizational and user aspects in this paper. Overall, the interaction technique itself was intuitive and easy to adopt, but the unreliability of the system incurred problems during the pilot. We also suggest that continuous identification is an appropriate way to implement user/device identification. However, this requires NFC-enabled mobile devices to be user or environment-specific. Based on experiences from the pilot test, we suggest that integrating NFC with other technologies requires keeping the scheme simple and limiting non-controllable factors. Maintenance of tags should be taken into account when an organization is adopting the system. Furthermore, the importance of immediate feedback concerning touching emerged in the pilot test.

Architecture and Evaluation of a User-Centric NFC-Enabled Ticketing System for Small Events

Small events are events with a limited number of attendees and limited financial means for the organizers. They represent an uncovered niche in the e-ticketing field. Our contribution, which is mainly practical, consists in proposing a solution to address this issue. We introduce an offline approach that uses Near Field Communication-enabled (NFC-enabled) mobile phones in a e-ticketing system dedicated to the management of these small events. In other words, we present an architecture which does not make use of an Internet connection during the ticket validation phase and that requires no infrastructure. Based on this architecture, we evaluate a prototype that we developed in terms of user experience, security, economical aspects and speed of use in order to show its relevance. Starting from a scenario with four use cases, we focus on the ticket issuance and the ticket presentation phases.

Architecture and comparison of two different user-centric NFC-enabled event ticketing approaches

This paper describes two different approaches to use Near Field Communication (NFC) enabled mobile phones in a ticketing system dedicated to event management: (i) a offline version where some equipments are not connected to the Internet ; (ii) a online version where an Internet connection is available on all the equipments composing the infrastructure. These two propositions are compared so as to evaluate their pros and cons in terms of user experience, security, economical aspects, reliability and speed of use. We also identified a scenario with six use cases and decided to focus on ticket issuance and ticket presentation.

Development and evaluation of media-enhanced learning application

With the recent developments in mobile and web technologies and mass adoption of mobile devices by the current school generation, significant opportunities have emerged for e-learning applications. This article makes a contribution to the design aspects of media-enhanced e-learning application. We present a design and development process for mobile application that seamlessly combines user-created multimedia with the students learning process in a school environment. We present the evolution of the application from a simple mobile phone application to a rich tablet application. We also report on field trial results with real users, showing that the application is quite easy to learn and use even for inexperienced users, and present insights from user comments on using mobile devices and user-created multimedia to aid the learning process.

Implementing Open Authentication for Web Services with a Secure Memory Card

Open authentication protocols have become a standard solution to allow interfacing of third-party applications and websites. This paper presents a rationale for the use of secure memory cards with NFC-enabled service. A software application prototype is presented to show how a secure memory card can provide a portable authentication module to access web services. The prototype shows that it is possible to implement secure credential storage on a user-configurable secure memory card that supports an open authentication protocol. It provides protection against copying of the credentials and effectively frees the user from typing the passwords into the mobile device. Although the smart memory card is still a very new platform in mobile devices and not standardized in all aspects, we show that it provides a promising platform that is not bound to a specific operator or manufacturer.

Enhanced service provision through mobile technology utilisation in facility processes

The aim is to describe the currently experienced benefits and obstacles for enhancing FM services with the available technological enablers. This paper presents an integration of several studies conducted to identify the prevalent usefulness and potential of mobile technology as perceived by Finnish FM professionals operating in Northern Europe. The main means of the study were to describe the current technological enablers for the utilisation of mobile technology at FM settings and to interview the FM professionals on how they perceived the utilisation of the available technology. The change of practice to exploit mobile technology is emergent. The paper gives experience-based suggestions for demand and supply sides of the service procurement to gain the feasible benefits and avoid the currently hindering obstacles, as the paper provides insight on present and future tools for the mobile aspects of FM services. The findings are relevant for the service providers and operators too.

Designing and Implementing Common Market for Cross-Game Purchases between Mobile Games

The mobile game markets are increasingly competitive and the game publishers are looking for new ways to increase player retention and cross commercialization of games. In this paper, we examine how a purchasing system using virtual currency based common market can be designed and implemented in order to create a larger service platform. The solution enables cross-game purchasing of virtual items from one game into another. We present how such a system can be designed, how it would fit into larger vision of multi-game ecosystem and what kind of limitations there are when implementing such a system. As a result, we describe solution of a bank and a marketplace entity, which are responsible of the transactions, virtual items and connecting games to each other. As a conclusion, we are presenting the expected challenges and expansion plans for the common market system.

Empowering the Elderly: Implementation of Navigation Assistance Application for Public Transportation

When a human ages, the functional abilities could weaken, which can lead to isolation from the society. Applying technological aid for improving the quality of life of the elderly helps them to stay independent and active in their community across their life. This article introduces a system, which is empowering the elderly by aiding them in using public transportation in both rural and urban environments, and helps them in this way to maintain the mobility and activity. The ASSISTANT system provides a simple, yet effective, route info for user and shows only relevant information, at the right time and in the appropriate format. The system is communicating with the user via audio and visual guidance. In addition, it has an error detection functionality, which helps user in case of common navigation errors. End user evaluation performed in Helsinki (Finland), Vienna (Austria) and Donostia-San Sebastian area (Spain) confirms that the service works as intended and helps older people to use public transport by guiding them all the way from the start to the end of their journeys. The system was found to be particularly helpful on unfamiliar routes.